Apparatus for holding jewelry and other articles

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for holding jewelry and other articles has a first and second support that slidably engage one another. The engagement of the supports allows a smooth surface on the first support, so that jewelry or other small articles may be disposed thereon and freely slid back and forth along the surface of the first support. The full insertion of the second support allows a smooth surface to be present without any transition of cross-sections that would catch or impede the movement of stored items. At least one small-accessory storage component is also provided, to slidably engage the first support and hold further small items. Items may be added or removed from the apparatus by disengaging the first and second supports after sliding already-retained items to one side, and then re-engaging the supports.

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. No. 61/986,252, filed Apr. 30, 2014, which application is incorporated into the present application by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to an apparatus for holding and organizing jewelry and other articles.

Most conventional jewelry holders are containers that simply provide a cavity, box, or drawer into which the jewelry may be placed. Unfortunately, finding a jewelry item, especially a matching pair of earrings with the associated retainers, is very difficult when the jewelry is all stored together, particularly in a single cavity. Additionally, viewing the collection of earrings to find a pair which best accessorize the current outfit of the user is also very difficult when the jewelry is all stored and jumbled together. It would be desirable, then, to have a jewelry storage apparatus which could store earrings as individual pairs, and display the collection.

One attempt to overcome these problems is to compartmentalize the jewelry container. However, the compartments tend to be quite large, in order to be versatile enough to hold various sized pieces of jewelry in a compartment, such as a decorative pin, bracelet, necklace, ring, or pair of earrings. Consequently, numerous items of jewelry, especially smaller items such as earrings, are stored in a single compartment. The jewelry items in each compartment then strike each other, and can tangle. It would be desirable, then, to have a jewelry storage and display apparatus which avoids tangling of the jewelry, as well as making the items easy to extract without disturbing their organization. In general, this has not been achieved in any of the jewelry or small-article storage means of the prior art. It is seen then that there exists a need for an apparatus which will be particularly suitable for holding earrings and other jewelry items both for display and storage that will avoid tangling of the jewelry and separation of one of a pair of earrings from the other of the pair during storage, and will enable the user to view substantially all of the contents of the container. Further, it is desirable if such an apparatus is also adaptable to holding and displaying articles such as belts and other small clothing items.

DRAWINGS

Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure are described by way of example in the following drawings, which are schematic and are not intended to be drawn to scale:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment holding representative articles.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an embodiment, showing the two moveable parts thereof.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an embodiment, also showing the two moveable parts thereof.

FIG. 4 is a side view of an embodiment, showing the assembled apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a small-accessory storage component for the apparatus.

SUMMARY

An apparatus for holding jewelry and other articles, comprises a first support; the first support having a bore and a first cross-section. A second support is sized to be slidably inserted into the bore of the first support and has a congruent cross-section. The second support is fully inserted into the bore of the first support so that no transition between the first cross-section and the second cross-section is created when the second support is fully inserted into the bore of the first support. The first support has a smooth surface with no holes or projections so that supported articles are not caught or impeded from sliding along the first support. At least one small-accessory storage component is provided. The small-accessory storage component comprises a hole sized to slidably engage the cross-section of the first support and one or more holes for receiving and holding small items.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment 100 holding representative articles. In this embodiment 100, a first support 110 has a bore 120 for receiving a second support 130. The first support 110 and the second support 130 are shown as having circular cross-sections, but any cross-section allowing the second support 130 to slidably fit within the bore 120 of the first support 110 may be used. Preferably, the first support 110 has a first end cap 140 and the second support 130 has a second end cap 150, for ease of manipulation and to more securely hold the apparatus 100 on hangers, such as the wall hooks 160 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an article 170, in this case, a jewelry bracelet, supported upon the apparatus 100. FIG. 1 also shows a small-accessory storage component 180, discussed below, fitting over the first support and hanging therefrom. The small-accessory storage component 180 preferably has holes for receiving hooks or screws typically part of small items, such as earrings.

FIGS. 2-3 show in plan view the parts of the apparatus 100 just described. The relative cross-sections of the first support 110 and the second support 130 are exaggerated for clarity. Also, the first cap 140 and the second cap 150 may have some arbitrary cross-section, and not necessarily be cylindrical, as illustrated. FIG. 3 shows the second support 130 being inserted into the bore 120 of the first support 110. The apparatus could be constructed from plastic pipe, such as PVC pipe, or from metal tubing, for example.

FIG. 4 shows the assembled apparatus, where the first support 110 and the second support 130 are fully engaged, and no part of the second support 130 is outside of the first support 110. This full engagement has the advantage of creating a smooth surface over first support 110 so that articles held upon the first support 110 may slide freely back and forth without being caught or impeded by a transition in cross-section created where the first support 110 and the second support 130 meet, which would be the case if the second support 130 were not fully inserted into the first support 110.

FIG. 5 shows a small-accessory storage component 180 for holding small articles. The small-accessory storage component 180 has a hole 200 sized to fit over the first support 110 and slide freely thereon. The small-accessory storage component 180 also preferably has one or more holes 190 for receiving hooks or screws typically part of small items, such as earrings. The small-accessory storage component 180 is shown as oval, but any other shape could be used. The small-accessory storage component 180 slidably fits over the first support 110 without any extra tie or holder.

Both articles 170 and one or more small-accessory storage components 180 may be deployed along the apparatus 100 when it is assembled. The apparatus 100 provides a way of neatly arranging items (here “item” refers to an article to be stored and also to a small-accessory storage component 180) so that they may be easily applied or removed. To apply an article 170 (or to apply a small-accessory storage component 180) to the apparatus, it is only necessary to slide out the second support 130 from the bore 120 of the first support 110, apply the article (if it does not already open to allow engagement with the first support 110), and then re-insert the second support 130 into the bore 120 of the first support 110. All items supported on the apparatus 100 may be slid to the side away from the bore 120 of the first support 110 before removing the second support 130, so that there is no need to remove any items before adding a new item. Alternatively, groups of items could be divided between the first support 110 and the second support 130 before the two are separated, to allow insertion of an item between two items already engaged. The first support 110 has a smooth surface with no projections or holes, so as to easily allow such sliding. As illustrated, the apparatus may be supported only by its ends, such as with wall hooks 160, and requires no intermediate support.

The example embodiment of the apparatus 100 is described with respect to the holding of jewelry and similar items, but the reader will realize that the apparatus 100 may be easily scaled larger and strengthened to hold household items, such as cords, tools, hats, camping gear and similar items, so that its application is not limited to jewelry.

None of the description in this application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope; the scope of patented subject matter is defined only by the allowed claims. Moreover, none of these claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 U.S.C. Section 112 unless the exact words “means for” are used, followed by a gerund. The claims as filed are intended to be as comprehensive as possible, and no subject matter is intentionally relinquished, dedicated, or abandoned. 

I claim:
 1. An apparatus for holding jewelry and other articles, comprising: a first support; the first support having a bore; the first support having a first cross-section; a second support; the second support sized to be slidably inserted into the bore of the first support; the second support having a second cross-section; the second support fully inserted into the bore of the first support; so that no transition between the first cross-section and the second cross-section is created when the second support is fully inserted into the bore of the first support; and, further that the first support has a smooth surface with no holes or projections; and, at least one small-accessory storage component; the small-accessory storage component comprising: a hole sized to slidably engage the cross-section of the first support; and, one or more holes for receiving and holding small items.
 2. The apparatus for holding jewelry and other articles of claim 1, further comprising at least one end cap affixed to the first support.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first cross-section and the second cross-section are circular.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first cross-section and the second cross-section are rectangular.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first support and the second support comprise a plastic pipe.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 where the small-accessory storage component comprises the shape of a flat plate.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 where the small-accessory storage component further comprises one or more holes for attaching articles thereto. 